The Most Anticipated Art Shows and Exhibitions of 2024
by Maxine Wally
It’s only mid January, yet the arts calendar for the year is already positively stacked. There’s “The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism” at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, an exhibition showcasing paintings, sculptures, and photographs to chronicle the famous artistic and social movement; the de Young’s show with Taiwanese-American artist Lee Mingwei, who is known for his installations that call for audience participation; and “O’Keeffe and Moore,” a celebration (and juxtaposition) of two major modernist artists at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. And that’s just in Q1. It’s a lot to keep track of, but fear not: we’ve put together a list of the highlights of this year in New York City, Los Angeles, and beyond. Consider this your grab-bag guide to the can’t-miss exhibitions of the season, and check back often—we’ll be updating this list as more events roll in throughout the year.
Madeline Donahue, ‘Present Tense’ at Nina Johnson
Madeline Donahue’s colorful paintings evoke both a lightness and a brutal honesty of the realities of motherhood. Come January 18, the Houston native, now based in New York City, will mount never-before-seen works at Nina Johnson gallery in Miami. Running through February 17, 2024, “Present Tense” will explore even more themes of intimacy, motherhood, and taking ownership of one’s life through 25 drawings and 12 paintings, including Red Studio—a piece that illustrates Donahue painting and her children playing in the downstairs studio of her new house. It was inspired by a Matisse work of the same name.